Freecharge partners with NGO to enable digital payment for E-rickshaw drivers

FreeCharge, India’s leading digital payments platform, today announced its partnership with Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC), an NGO focused on financial aid for E-Rickshaws.

This partnership will be announced at the launch of Stand up India scheme in Noida which will be graced by the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, UP Governor, Union Finance Minister, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism and Union Minister of State for Finance. At the event, Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will distribute the E-Rickshaws and also support digital payment by using FreeCharge’s Chat-n-Pay service to pay for his ride on one of the new E-Rickshaws.

FreeCharge’s recently launched Chat-n-Pay service enables customers to connect and pay via chat with E-Rickshaw drivers in less than 5 seconds. The drivers can register themselves as a merchant at zero investment, on the Chat-n-Pay platform by simply adding their banking details. For consumers and drivers, Chat-n-Pay will help eliminate the hassle of managing and arranging change and will further offer convenience to pay on-the-go in a seamless and secure manner.

Talking about the partnership, Govind Rajan, Chief Operating Officer, FreeCharge said “We are excited to be part of this initiative and enable E-Rickshaw drivers to be part of the digital payments ecosystem. It is great to witness Honourable Prime Minister himself educating people on the importance of digital payment and will act as a testimony for a company like us. This partnership will strengthen our goal of creating a less cash society and further give a boost to our endeavour to make digital payments accessible to all in the swiftest and secure manner. Our Chat-n-Pay service has opened opportunities for small merchants from unorganised sectors to accept payments digitally with no investment.”

“Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC) aims to spread awareness of this 13 financial inclusion and social security schemes and proposes to take the benefits to poor and destitute people in the country. The idea is to facilitate the up gradation of pedal rickshaw pullers into E Rickshaw owners and help create threefold increment in their income. Credit for all these facilities is being provided under Mudra Scheme. The progression to E Rickshaw from pedal rickshaw will also help contribute towards achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Sach hua Sapna, Rickshaw hua apna!” shared Vijay Pandey, Managing Director, Bhartiya Micro Credit.

“In addition, the customers will also be able to book E Rickshaw through Ola mobile apps and make digital payment via FreeCharge, which will be integrated under PM Modi's Digital India initiative”, said Shantanu Gupta, Advisor to BMC.

As part of their on-going initiative BMC will distribute 5,100 E-Rickshaws at the event. FreeCharge will be setting up training for all these drivers via BMC to help them understand how to use FreeCharge app and accept payments. FreeCharge will also create an exclusive incentive plan for all the E-Rickshaw drivers to encourage them to use digital payments to pay for services like mobile recharges, electricity bill payments etc.